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Dingoes can help manage feral foxes, cats

A study involving staff from the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales has found that reintroducing dingoes to areas where humans have removed them would help control the numbers of feral foxes and cats.

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Dingoes can help manage feral foxes, cats

A study involving staff from the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales has found that reintroducing dingoes to areas where humans have removed them would help control the numbers of feral foxes and cats.

Native animals such as the bilby have co-existed with dingoes for 4500 years, yet are threatened by introduced species such as foxes and cats. Photo: Bobby Tamayo

As well as studying the impact of dingoes on red foxes in Queensland, the study examined the relationship between the grey wolf and coyote in Saskatchewan, Canada, and the grey wolf and jackal in Bulgaria and Serbia.

The findings of the study suggest optimum suppression of the smaller predators occurs when the apex predator is able to exist at high densities over large areas.

The data used in the study is from bounty counts from when the Queensland government paid for the culling of dingoes and red foxes.

Dr Newsome said that while the data was from the 1950s, the scale provided the best basis to develop their findings.

"More recent studies of dingoes at a local scale support these results," he said. He also said that given their correlation with findings in Canada and Europe they have confidence in the outcome of the study.

Of course, reintroducing dingoes to parts of Queensland and NSW from where they have been removed would bring them into contact with grazing lands.

Dr Newsome said if policymakers were to consider reintroducing dingoes, as has been trialled in parts of Victoria, it would have to be at large enough scales for it to have a strong impact.

"We would have to accept occasional stock losses," Dr Newsome said. "Humans need a greater tolerance of apex predators if we want to enjoy the environmental benefits they can provide."

He told Fairfax Media that some modelling showed dingoes would have a net economic benefit in cattle grazing areas by suppressing kangaroo numbers, improving grass feed.

Dr Newsome suggested alternative strategies could be used in sheep country, including the use of companion and guardian animals such as maremma sheepdogs, alpacas and donkeys.

A spokeswoman for the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage said consideration of any proposal to reintroduce dingoes would require extensive consultation with landholders and other stakeholders concerning impacts and benefits.

A federal Department of Environment spokesmansaid: "A number of research projects are considering the interactions between dingoes and foxes and feral cats. These projects will help inform where and when it may be appropriate to consider reintroductions of dingoes."

The National Farmers Federation did not wish to comment on the study.

A recent video that has been widely shared on social media showed how the reintroduction of wolves in a US national park had a widespread positive effect on its ecosystem.

Dr Newsome said that video, How Wolves Change Rivers, was a good layperson's overview of the impact apex predators can have when reintroduced to an ecosystem.

"When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park it helped shift the area back into relative balance," he said.

For the study Dr Newsome worked with ecologists at Oregon State University, the University of Washington, the University of Belgrade, the University of Tasmania, the University of Ljubljana, UNSW, and the University of Forestry, Sofia.